Meet Jarvis, Mark Zuckerberg’s personal AI

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The founder and boss of Facebook set himself the target for 2016 to design a virtual butler to perform certain domestic tasks. He has just introduced Jarvis, an AI driven by voice and via the Facebook Messenger application which knows, among other things, to recognize people ringing the door, choose music or manage lighting.

At the beginning of 2016, the young boss announced his intention to design a virtual assistant to help him in his domestic tasks, inspired by Jarvis, the artificial intelligence (AI) that assists Tony Stark, alias Iron Man, in the eponymous saga.

Jarvis is a kind of virtual butler with which the Zuckerberg family can interact from a smartphone, to voice or by written exchange via the Facebook Messenger application. The AI ​​is connected to a number of home automation systems to control lighting in every room, room temperature, music. Jarvis can also feed the dog from home by operating a food dispenser, opening the door to friends he has previously identified, or toasting toast.

To create this virtual assistant, Mark Zuckerberg used several artificial intelligence technologies to process natural language queries, identify a voice and recognize a face. In the end, the capabilities of this Jarvis are nothing new. Most of the features described already exist through various home automation products, connected speakers such as Amazon Echo and mobile applications.

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What’s next ?

What is interesting is the synthesis that Mark Zuckerberg has managed to create between different technologies and products to build a versatile AI embryo that fits in quite seamlessly into everyday life. The other important aspect of this experience is the findings of the young boss of Facebook. First, an AI must understand the context in order to know, for example, which member of the family speaks to him, in order to adjust his interaction taking into account preferences but also in which room the person who speaks , So as to execute the command in the right place.

This command of the context brings another advantage which is to make the AI ​​capable of handling open requests. Thus, Mark Zuckerberg explains that he has reached a point where he can ask Jarvis to put music to him without further precision. The program will then plot in the history of its application Spotify to propose a title suitable to him. Jarvis Dad explains how he alternates positive and negative feedback to advance his virtual creature so that it more effectively seizes his expectations.

An important point raised by Mark Zuckerberg, and so far little talked about, is the interest of maintaining a permanent link with his AI by striking a fair balance between verbal and written exchange. At work, with friends or in a public place, it is better to dialogue in writing with his virtual assistant rather than talking to him on the phone. “This suggests that future AI-based products will not be able to settle for voice and will also need a private messaging interface,” said Jarvis’ creator.

Zuckerberg intends to further develop his AI, in particular by teaching him to acquire new skills independently. Mark Zuckerberg says he plans to publish the source code for his program, but that it is currently too specifically designed for his home and his computer and home automation installation. But it would not be surprising that some of the ideas implemented are found one day in a virtual assistant Facebook …

Sources:

https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10102620559534481

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/20/14028744/mark-zuckerberg-jarvis-home-ai-video-watch

http://www.futura-sciences.com/tech/actualites/intelligence-artificielle-mark-zuckerberg-devoile-jarvis-son-ia-personnelle-65631/

One thought on “Meet Jarvis, Mark Zuckerberg’s personal AI

  1. kmaslova says:

    As far as I understand,it is a Siri built in the messenger?
    So far, sounds great, but I wonder, how far did Zuckerberg go? Playing music (as Echo) , opening doors (smart house feature). I suppose, that what he wants to do is a self-learning program, that will know what to do in a specific situation. Surely, he will achieve it someday, but as for now for me his technology seems to be a bit over exaggerated. We’ll see in the future I guess.

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